Sell a Home

There are many reasons to sell a property. Maybe you are looking for something larger to accommodate your growing family or something smaller since your children are now grown and out of the house. Or maybe you have an income property and you would like to complete a 1031 tax-deferred exchange.

Whatever the case may be we have assisted hundreds of sellers in similar situations and we are here to help. On the surface selling a home can seem fairly simple. The reality is that there are many moving parts and we are a team of experienced professionals ready to help you through every step of the way.

Below you will find an outline of the basic steps to listing and selling a home in the San Diego real estate market:

  1. Listing Presentation: We will meet with you at your property to discuss your plans and goals as well as our qualifications to serve your needs. We will offer you a written guarantee of our services. We will discuss recent comparable sales and our opinion of the value of your property in its current condition. If we feel there are changes that could be made to the property to increase your bottom line we will discuss improvements and staging recommendations. At this meeting we will go over our comprehensive marketing plan.
  2. Listing Contract: At this meeting with you will we sign a listing contract. The listing contract will specify the dates and length of the listing, commission rates, pricing and more. We will also guide you through the required seller disclosure forms.
  3. Professional photography: We hire a professional real estate photographer to shoot our listings. They have the proper lenses, lighting and touch-up techniques to make your property look it best.
  4. Flyers and Just Listed Postcards: Professionally printed flyers and postcards are ordered as soon as the pictures are available from the photographer.
  5. Listing submitted to Multiple Listing Service (MLS): We will submit your listing accurately and completely to the MLS utilizing all available fields in order to capture as many qualified buyers as possible.
  6. Marketing begins: The day your property goes on the market we will market it in earnest. For example: You listing will be posted to our website, just listed cards will go out, the sign will be up, flyers will be in the property, open houses scheduled, broker caravan is scheduled, social networking begins etc.
  7. Showings begin: As interest in your property builds the showings will commence. Buyer’s will either make appointments with us to see the property or they will set up a showing with their own real estate agent.
  8. Offers/Counter Offers: As offers come in we will present them to you. We will be sure prospective buyers are pre-approved for a loan. We will make recommendations on the pros and cons of each offer.  Ultimately it will be up to you to decide how to respond to each offer.
  9. Offer Acceptance: Escrow will be opened. The buyer’s good faith deposit will go to escrow and be held.
  10. Inspections: The buyer will complete a general home inspection with a professional home inspector. The buyer may want to have other inspections for mold, lead, asbestos, termites, or improvements they are considering. Typically the buyer will have 17 days after acceptance to complete inspections.
  11. Request for Repairs: After inspections are complete the buyer may wish to negotiate a request for repair. The request may include a list specific of items to repair or a dollar amount in lieu of completing the repairs.
  12. Appraisal: The buyer’s lender will need to complete an appraisal of the property. The appraisal will need to have a final value at or above the agreed purchase price.
  13. Removal of Buyer Contingencies: Typically after 17 days your buyer will be required to remove their contingencies in writing. At this stage their inspections should be complete, all disclosures have been reviewed, their appraisal is complete, their loan is approved, and they are ready to close the transaction. Full removal of contingencies means that their deposit will likely be forfeited to you as, “Liquidated Damages”, if they decide to back out of the transaction.
  14. Final Walkthrough: This is to verify the property condition is the same or better than when the buyer made the offer and to verify seller repairs, if any, are completed.
  15. Loan signing: Buyer signs loan documents with notary.
  16. Buyer funds to escrow: Buyer brings a cashier’s check or sets-up a wire transfer of buyer’s funds. These funds are for their down payment and closing costs that are required by the escrow company to close the transaction.
  17. Loan funding: The buyer’s bank will fund the loan once they determine all conditions have been met and the signed loan documents have been reviewed.
  18. Closing: Recording at County Recorder’s Office and Close of Escrow
  19. Possession: The buyer receives keys.
  20. Final Escrow Accounting: After closing the escrow company will finalize the closing figures and issue a wire or check for your proceeds. Typically these funds are available the next business day after closing.

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